'89 Sportster Oil Tank

[Troy]

Evening all,
A few years ago when I happily trundled off on my Sportster I noticed a few drips of oil on the ground overnight.I finally traced this to a fracture on the oil tank next to one of the mounting brackets.The fracture had been brazed at some point so I discounted it as a repair failure.I got a new tank from good old ebay and everything has been fine since.I worry though about the battery tray hanging on to it and everything bouncing around on the pristine roads of Kent.Has anyone had this problem and made modifications or can I relax,knowing this was a one off problem with my bike.Apologies if this has been covered before
Troy

[robbiemac]

there is a problem with sporty oil tanks fracturing, it's not just you mate.
I will dig out some info and see what years were affected and what the fix is.

[robbiemac]

should have said "was" a problem, not such a big problem these days.

[robbiemac]

here is a link with the very same problem you have, bookmark this forum as it's good source of info on sportys.
steps to remove the oil tank???? [Archive] - The Sportster and Buell Motorcycle Forum

cheers

[Leadbelly]

Coing back years I had a 1989 sporty bought from Alvins in Edinburgh. I had a leak of oil due to bad brazing.
Bad brazing in the factory not Edinburgh.

I took the tank off had it brazed and it never leaked the rest of the time I had it.

I am sure everything will be ok now.

I did a good few miles on that sporty.

Leadbelly

[Troy]

Hmmmmm.Not just a one-off problem then.I'm going to make a bracket to support the battery tray to the frame to stop it bouncing around.That should hopefully cure the problem.Thanks for the replies.
Troy

[Ming the Merciless]

My 1990 Sporty had exactly the same problem. I had it brazed and it didn't work - hardly surprising really, as it is impossible to totally clean the area to be brazed. It is a design problem, as you correctly observe.

Originally Posted by Troy

the battery tray hanging on to it and everything bouncing around

It was rectified on later model years and the 'old' design is no longer available. In the end, I fitted the later design tank (bought new from a main dealer), which includes a heavy duty battery tray and lots more bracing, and I never had a problem again.